Aresha felt sweat trickle down her forehead and onto her nose, causing an itch to follow. But she could not alleviate herself of the ever-increasing agony of an itch left alone, her hands were busy, and the precipitous slope beneath her was an excellent motivator for self-control.
She glanced upward, searching for a new handhold, and saw that with one more leap upwards, she would reach the layer of clouds that hid the peak of the mountain she was on from sight.
With a grunt of effort, she launched herself another twenty feet up the steep mountain slope, before slamming her hands and feet forcefully into the slick cloud-covered stone. And with another two consecutive leaps, executed exactly like the first, she found herself just above the cloud bank.
Aresha’s lungs heaved for oxygen in the thinning atmosphere, but she was not done yet. With the clouds beneath her, the goal was in sight. Exhausted and panting, she started climbing. One deliberate movement after the other, until, suddenly, she found that she did not need to create a handhold into the mountain, she had reached the ledge.
After catching her breath, Aresha looked at her new surroundings and was amazed at the pure serenity of the mountain plateau she had found herself on. It was not big, only big enough for a small pond, and several small trees, though how they could survive above the tree line was a mystery to her. The plateau was covered in a thin layer of green-gray grass that made the crystal blue of the pond, and the leaves of the trees seem vibrant and alive. An air of peace and contemplative silence surrounded the entire area.
After wandering toward the center, she noticed the dark cave entrance set into the mountainside, and she cautiously walked toward it. After studying it carefully, she hesitantly stepped inside. She followed the cave tunnel until it turned, and darkness obscured her sight. Stopping briefly, Aresha felt around for a pouch on her waist and pulled out a jar containing a glowing larva.
With the issue of light solved, she continued down the gently sloping tunnel, until it opened up into a massive cavern. There she stopped and, looking around nervously, she haltingly asked, “Is anyone here? Umm… I was told there lived a wise being here, and thats why I am here. I did not mean to interrupt you, if I have?”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
WISE? IS THAT WHAT THEY CALL ME? I SEE NO WISDOM HERE. JUST DARKNESS. AND SILENCE. ALTHOUGH, I SUPPOSE IF THAT IS WISDOM, THEN I MUST BE VERY WISE INDEED.
At the other end of the cavern, a brilliant purple light came into existence, almost an eye, though it was bigger than Aresha’s head. She nervously shuffled toward the light.
“They say you know things that others don’t. Uh. Great One, they say that you can help people that are stuck in their power to grow even further. I was hoping that you would help me?” she asked as she approached the purple light.
HELP YOU LEARN STRENGTH? YOU ARE A BUG TO ME, MY LESSONS WOULD SQUASH YOU BENEATH ME. THIS WORLD IS MEANT FOR THE STRONG AND THE STUBBORN, IF YOU CANNOT FIND STRENGTH ON YOUR OWN, WHY SHOULD I HELP YOU?
Suddenly the voice was no longer at the location of the eye. It was right above her. With a short yelp, Aresha turned, raising her moon worm, to try to make out the source of the voice.
What she saw gave her pause. Here was the true eye, it was a purple orb as well, but it was definitely larger than her head, even up close. The shifting iris shifted and whirled with almost palpable magic. As a vibrant mulberry-colored head with a mane of silken gold came down in front of the cave’s exit, Aresha cowered. Magic flared and the cavern lit up, revealing a sinuous body as wide as a house coiled around the cave hiding the entirety of the walls behind massive mulberry-colored scale plating.
I WILL NOT GIVE YOU THE POWER YOU SEEK. STRENGTH GIVEN IS NOT TRULY STRENGTH. NOR CAN I GIVE WISDOM, FOR WISDOM CAN NOT BE GIVEN, LITTLE HUMAN.
The massive dragon shifted toward the terrified human woman and softened his voice. “ALL I CAN GIVE YOU IS PERSPECTIVE. THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE STRONG WILL AID YOU NOT, ALTHOUGH, PERHAPS THE TALE OF THE WEAK MAY HELP.
The immense head settled down before Aresha, and the eye blinked slowly and deliberately before the great, slitted pupil contracted and focused on the human before it. Speaking so quietly Aresha had to strain to hear, the only dragon who had ever refused to become the king of the dragons in known history spoke, “I will speak, and you will listen. When I am finished, you will leave me to my peace, and you will contemplate all you have heard. Understood?”
“Yes, master ancient, I will do as you say”
“Very well.” And with that, all light in the cave vanished, aside from the first glowing orb. The orb floated up to hover before Aresha, and inside, she saw a green and blue sphere form.
‘There is a world known to its inhabitants as Earth. It is a strange world, with strange laws, but still, life flourishes much like in our world. This is where our story will begin.”
As the picture zoomed in on a small little green speck surrounded by blue, the dragon continued, “Beneath a litter of leaves in a forest off the Coast of an Island known to the earthlings as Barbados, a snake, the color of a purple bruise, laid a huge egg. It was almost a whole five millimeters in diameter at its thickest…”